trust

27 Apr, 2011

Are You in an Accountability Crisis?

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:59+00:00April 27th, 2011|Accountability, Business Growth, Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Leadership, Performance Improvement, Personal Development, Results|

There are a lot of factors that could contribute to your lack of results – time, talent, resources – but for most of us the difference between excellence and mediocrity comes down to accountability. Accountability requires courage: Courage to tell and value the truth. Courage to remain keenly focused on results that matter, and courage to be relentless and unwavering as we look at contribution and behavior. The failure to stem a crisis of accountability places us on the path to mediocrity and worse – irrelevance.

15 Apr, 2011

The Rewards of Staying Stupid

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:59+00:00April 15th, 2011|Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Execution, Innovation, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Results|

I published a piece titled “Stupid Has Its Own Momentum” in November 2010. Since then, examples of stupid having its own momentum. have continued ... and continued ... and continued. Stupid maintains its own momentum because there are incentives to do so. Here are three powerful rewards to stay stupid:

6 Apr, 2011

What It Takes to Live and Lead with Integrity

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:59+00:00April 6th, 2011|Corporate Culture, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership|

Integrity appears at or near the top of every list of desirable leadership traits. We claim it as the mantle of the leaders with whom we agree and decry its absence in those with whom we disagree. You would think a behavior and characteristic so widely accepted as important could be universally defined. So go ahead—take a stab at it. Integrity is . . . It is not as easy as you thought, is it? And that is the challenge: You can’t live or lead with integrity – or expect others to do so – if you can’t clearly define it?

29 Mar, 2011

R-E-S-P-E-C-T: A Rant

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:59+00:00March 29th, 2011|Communication, Government & Politics, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Personal Development|

The debate of divergent ideas consumes the airwaves. It streams across the Internet in a multitude of bits and bytes; and it populates the pages of the print media. Most important, it occupies the time, energy, and resources of our leaders. So how is the debate working so far? Are you seeing results? The absence of respect – for the process, the opposition, and the people being governed – is a prime culprit in our failure to act and deliver results.

22 Mar, 2011

Ask a Better Question

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:29:59+00:00March 22nd, 2011|Accountability, Business Growth, Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Execution, Government & Politics, Innovation, Leadership, Performance Improvement, Results|

Southwest Airlines faced a dilemma early in its operation—a cash shortage was forcing it to sell one of its four airplanes. The implications are obvious—selling the airplane generates cash for operations and cuts capacity to generate future revenue. Government leaders are facing their version of this challenge in budget meetings across the country. Should we raise taxes and fees in a difficult economy, or do we cut services at a time when they may be needed most?

15 Mar, 2011

How Public Sector Unions Could Work & Why They Won’t

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:30:00+00:00March 15th, 2011|Corporate Culture, Government & Politics, Leadership, Results|

Public employee unions could significantly increase their chances for voter support by taking the lead – or at least working together with their opponents – on the following actions: 1. Take strikes, work stoppages, and slowdowns off the table. The public has a right to expect that its public agencies continue to function even if there is a disagreement over terms of the contract. In return for this, public employee unions should receive the right for expedited arbitration over violations of the contract.

8 Mar, 2011

Why Public Sector Unions Could Become Extinct

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:30:00+00:00March 8th, 2011|Corporate Culture, Government & Politics, Leadership|

The standoff between Republican elected officials and their Democratic colleagues over the roll and scope of collective bargaining with public sector unions has escalated to the point where rhetoric has overtaken reason. So let’s look at what this means and why public sector unions could become extinct.

1 Mar, 2011

Getting Past Perception

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:30:00+00:00March 1st, 2011|Communication, Corporate Culture, Government & Politics, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Personal Development|

Fourteen senators leave the state. 60,000 plus show up to demonstrate. And, the next thing you know there’s a national debate on the role of public employee unions in the state budget crisis occurring throughout the country. Those who support the unions see this as a not-so-veiled attempt to alter the essence of collective bargaining and limit the people’s right to protest. Union members see it as a fundamental challenge to their right to organize, and in some cases, a violation of their contract. The union leadership no doubt sees it as payback for supporting Democratic and pro-labor candidates. Those who support the various initiatives view this as a much needed step to reign in spending that is out of control. They view unions as – at worst - the enemy that have secured salary and benefits that are unavailable to them as private sector employees. “Why should government employees experience no pain when they are out of work,” they ask. There are probably even Republicans who view this as the perfect opportunity to weaken a political opponent. The problem with perceptions is that it only takes one act to prove you are right. As the saying goes, “All Indians walk in single file. I know that to be true because the one I saw was doing it that way.”

31 Jan, 2011

Leading in the Face of Crisis

By Randy Pennington|2014-11-02T18:53:09+00:00January 31st, 2011|Business Growth, Business Strategy, Communication, Execution, Leadership, Leading & Managing Change|

Every crisis presents us with an opportunity to lead or shirk from service. It either paralyzes us from moving forward, or it pushes us to take action. Here are five actions you can take to lead your organization or team through tough times:

27 Jan, 2011

A Love Affair With Results

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:30:00+00:00January 27th, 2011|Business Growth, Corporate Culture, Execution, Leadership, Results|

The edge is a deep passion for competing, contributing, and yes, winning. It’s being dissatisfied with the status quo and never resting on your laurels. It is caring so much that you work your tail off to deliver better results tomorrow than you did today. Passion for delivering results drives learning and embracing change as a way of life. It’s an attitude not a skill.

10 Jan, 2011

Can You Teach Leaders About Integrity?

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:30:00+00:00January 10th, 2011|Accountability, Business Growth, Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership|

Training & Development Magazine ran a great article in its December 2010 issue titled "2010: Six Trends That Will Change Workplace Learning Forever." The first trend identified was the problem with leadership. Specifically, the article said that “consumers had a low perception of leaders and very little trust in corporate America.” The article makes an excellent case for teaching leaders how to act with integrity ... and then it bailed out.

28 Dec, 2010

Resolutions for Results

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:30:01+00:00December 28th, 2010|Business Growth, Business Strategy, Leadership, Personal Development|

The tradition of New Year’s resolutions dates back more than 4,000 years to the ancient Babylonians. Even then people were failing to turn intention into action. Very few of the good intentions professed as a New Year’s Resolution will ever come to fruition. The goals are noble, but the choices are wrong. For 2011, consider forgetting your typical resolutions and make this the year of better choices.

13 Dec, 2010

Three Important Questions

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:30:01+00:00December 13th, 2010|Accountability, Business Growth, Business Strategy, Corporate Culture, Employee Retention, Execution, Leadership|

Someone out there is waiting to take your customers, your best employees, and ultimately, your business. Your competitors are not just the usual suspects you know. They can come from anywhere – from a dorm room to a foreign country.

6 Dec, 2010

Yes, But How?

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:30:01+00:00December 6th, 2010|Accountability, Business Growth, Business Presentations, Corporate Culture, Employee Retention, Execution, Leadership, Performance Improvement, Results|

Consciously changing – even tweaking – a culture is hard work.. There is no twelve-step program. There are choices you can make that, over time, will help you repair a damaged culture or sustain and grow a positive one.

29 Nov, 2010

Leader or Liar?

By Randy Pennington|2016-10-29T15:30:02+00:00November 29th, 2010|Communication, Corporate Culture, Integrity & Ethics, Leadership, Personal Development|

We choose every day. Consciously or not, we make it nonetheless. Are we a leader or a liar? Here is the challenge – we know our intentions, but simply look at our behavior and performance filtered through their lens of perception. Did we do what we said we would do? We may see ourselves as a leader, but to others we are simply lying to them or ourselves.

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